Floor-dressing machine.



No. 800,695. PATBNTED OCT. 3, 1905.

' H.. A. VERGES & W. B. SHERWOOD.

FLOOR. DRESSING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 2. 1905'.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HENRY A. vEReEs AND WALTER E. SHERWOOD, or MILWAUKEE,

WISCONSIN.

FLOOR-DRESSING MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 3, 1905.

Application filed August 2,1905. Seria No. 272,282.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, HENRY A. VERGES and WALTER E. SHERWOOD, citizens of the United States, residing at Milwaukee, in the county of Milwaukee and State of Wisconsin, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Floor-Dressing Machines, of

which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part thereof.

The main objects of this invention are to reduce the labor and expedite the work of dressing or scraping hardwood floors and to give them a smooth even surface.

It consists in certain novel features of construction and in the peculiar arrangement and combination of parts hereinafter particularly described, and defined in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings like letters designate the same parts in the several figures. Figure 1 IS a view, partly in slde elevation and partly 1n vertica longltudmal section,

of a machine embodying the invention. Fig..

2 is a plan view of the machine, parts being broken away and shown in section. Fig. 3 is a vertical cross-section on the line 3 3, Figs. 1 and 2; and Fig. 4 is a plan view of the upper end of the handle.

The work of planin and scraping hardwood floors as generally performed heretofore with ordinary hand-tools, the necessary operations having to be done in a cramped or bent position, is very hard and fatiguing, and it has been found very difficult, if not impossible,,to produce with the ordinary tools and methods of dressing floors an even smooth surface. When floors are dressed with the ordinary hand-tools, they usually have to be sandpapered, and even then they will have a wavy uneven appearance, particularly after they have been polished or varnished. These difficulties and objections are obviated and the objects hereinbefore stated are attained by the machine herein shownand described.

Referring to the drawings, a designates an open four-sided frame, which may be conveniently made of cast-iron. To the outer face of one end of this frame, which is inclined upwardly toward the center of the frame, a transverse scraping-knife b is removably secured by screws 0. To the opposite end of the frame is attached an operating-handle, preferably consisting of an upwardly-inclined extensible arm and a crossbar adjustable lengthwise transversely to said arm. a

The adjustable handle-arm may be conveniently constructed of an approximately square wooden bar (1, having a series of transverse holes, and of two metal splice-plates 6, also formed with corresponding series of holes and bolted at one end to a shank j, cast on the frame, and at the other end to the bar d. This construction admits of the handlearm being readily lengthened or shortened by shifting the bolts connecting the bar d and plates 6 to different holes. For the most easy and satisfactory operation of the machine where there is sufficient room forfree- -dom of movement a longer handle is desirable than can be used in some places-as, for example, in closets and small or narrow rooms.

The cross-bar g is preferably made round or cylindrical and of sufficient length to afford an easy and convenient grip for both hands. Being preferably longer than the width of the frame a, it is adjustably secured to the upper end of the handle-arm by a metal loop h and a set-screw i, so that it can be shifted lengthwise transversely to the handle-arm in order that the machine may be run and a floor dressed close to a wall or base-board parallel with the flooring boards or strips.

The frame a is provided on opposite sides with vertically-movable boxes j, which are yieldingly supported upon springs 7c, interposed between them and the lower ends of the openings in which they are guided.

Z is a roller-weight the ends of whose axle m are carried in the boxes 1'. It is preferably formed at the ends with two grooved rims separated from each other by an intervening recess in'its periphery and provided with tires or bands of rubber or other suitable material to prevent marring the floor.

By cutting away the face of the roller weight between its ends the operation of the machine is less aifected'by any unevenness in the surface over which it runs, and the scraping-blade is caused to Work more evenly and smoothly.

The frame a is provided on opposite sides at its handle end with roller rests or supports p, having rubber tires or cushioned rims to prevent marring the floor. The machine when the handle is lowered rests upon the weight Z and the rollers p, the scraping-blade Z) being lifted out of contact with the floor, as shown in Fig. 1.

The holes in the blade I), through which the l screws 0 pass, are slotted vertically, so that the lower cutting edge of the blade may be adjusted up or down and set parallel with the axis or bearing-face of the roller-weight Z. The holes in the blade may also be countersunk to receive the heads of the screws or bolts 0, so that the blade can be run close up to a base-board at the ends of the flooring boards or strips to start a cut. The blade may be set straight across the machine parallel with the axis of the roller-weight Z, or it may be arranged obliquely thereto, and, in short, various changes in the details of construction and arrangement of parts may be made without materially affecting the-operation of the machine and without departing from the principle and intended scope of the invention.

The machine as hereinbefore described opcrates as follows: The scraping-blade having been properly sharpened and set is carried out of contact with the floor, .as shown in Fig. 1, to the point where a cut is to begin. The handle is then lifted, carrying the blade downward into contact with the floor, and the machine is then drawn backward, the handle being held up to bring more or less of the weight Z, as may be required, upon the blade. When the cut is completed, the handle is lowered, gradually taking the weight off from the blade on account of the compression of the springs 7c, through which the pressure of the weight is transmitted to the blade. In this way the blade is lifted from the floor without making an abrupt break or leaving a ridge or mark. The machine is now run forward again, bearing upon the roller-weight Z and roller-rests p, the blade being held out of contact with the floor into position to start a new cut. The handle is then raised asbefore to carry the blade down into contact with the floor and to bring more or less of the weight of the roller Z upon it. The machine is then drawn back and another cut is made, these operations being repeated until the work is completed. The springs Zr not only serve to gradually apply the weight of the roller Z to and to take it off from the scrapingblade at the be inning and end of each cut, but also to equalize the pressure of the weight upon the blade from end to end thereof. The blade is thus caused to cut or scrape evenly the entire width of the machine, even if its cutting edge should not be adjusted exactly parallel with the axis of the roller-weight and the surface of the floor should be wavy or uneven. Pressure being thus evenly applied to the scraping-blade from end to end, it is caused to make a smooth even cut, and the individual tool-marks and the resulting wavy and uneven appearance so noticeable in floors dressed in the ordinary way with the usual hand-tools are thus avoided.

Floors scraped with this machine require very little, if any, sandpapering, and the labor required to produce a smooth even sur face with this machine is much less than that involved in the use of a plane and other tools usually employed for this purpose.

To vary the inclination of the handle-arm (Z and the working distance of the cross-bar g from the floor, and thereby adapt the machine for easy operation by persons of difi'erent heights, one of the bolt-holes in the shank f is slotted transversely, as shown in Fig. 1,

so that when the nut on the bolt passing through it is slackened the handle may be swung up or down on the other bolt to the desired position and then rigidly secured in that position by tightening said nut.

We claim 1. In a floor-dressing machine the combination of a frame provided at one end with a transverse scraping-blade and at the other with an operating-handle, and a roller-weight journaled in said frame between said blade and handle, substantially as described.

2. In a floor-dressing machine the combination of a frame provided with a scraping blade and operating-handle and between said blade and handle with vertically-movable boxes, springs interposed between said frame and the under sides of said boxes, and arollerweight having its axle carried by said boxes, substantially as described.

3. In a floor-dressing machine the combination of a frame, a roller-weight journaled IOC therein, a scraping-blade anda roller-rest carried by said frame on opposite sides of said weight, and an operating-handle attached to said frame opposite said blade, substantially as described.

4. In a floor-dressing machine the combination of a frame having a longitudinally-extensible handle-arm, a roller-weight j ournaled in said frame, and a transverse seraping-blade attached to the frame, substantially as described.

5. In a floor-dressing machine the combination of a frame havin a handle consisting of an upwardly-inclined longitudinal arm and a cross-bar adj ustable lengthwise transversely to said arm, a roller-weight ournaled in said frame and a transverse scraping-blade attached to said frame, substantially as described.

6. In a floor-dressing machine the combination of a frame provided at opposite ends with a scraping-blade and with an operatinghandle, and a roller-weight journaled in said frame and having a cushioned rim, substantially as described.

7. In a floor-dressing machine the combination of a frame provided at opposite ends with a scraping-blade and with an operating IIC IIE

handle, a roller-weight journaled in said frame between said blade and handle and having a cushioned rim, and a roller-rest carried by said frame at the handle end and hav- 1 ing a cushioned rim, substantially as derated by an intervening recess in its periphery, and two roller-rests journaled on opposite sides of the frame at its handle end and having cushioned rims, substantially as described.

In witness whereof we hereto affix our signatures in presence of two witnesses.

HENRY A. VERGES. WALTER E. SHERWOOD.

\Vitnesses:

CHAs. L. Goss, JOSEPH F. KAMINsKY. 

